Pomona had often thought that whenever Severus fought with James and the others, Lily was meddling by trying to break it up. Boys' problems ought to be solved by boys themselves.
Now it seemed she was suffering the consequences herself.
Of course, she could not enter a place like the Council of State. Later, under the guidance of a palace attendant, she found Citizen Leoncour. He was playing billiards in the recreation room.
Men's clothing in Napoleon's era had swept away the elaborate, exquisite styles of the previous dynasty, becoming simple and imposing, with much darker colors. Citizen Leoncour stood out in the recreation room and was easy to spot.
But that was not the important part. The important part was that after she had soothed the young First Consul, not only had his mind failed to clear up, he seemed to have grown even more confused.
Before the Treaty of Amiens was signed, France had also concluded the Treaty of Lunéville with Austria. Austria declared in the treaty that it respected France's interests in Italy, and the Second Coalition existed in name only.
For Italy, Napoleon's theoretical homeland, he had not the slightest attachment. During the First Italian War, he led a group of French soldiers who looked like beggars over the Alps and plundered northern Italy. He had never bothered to hide the fact that he was a bandit.
The Baltic Sea's grain shortage had nothing to do with the Mediterranean region. He had absolutely no need to intensify the hatred and make everyone go hungry.
Later, he did not live well on his island of exile either. He eventually developed the stomach ailment he feared most. None of that had ever had anything to do with Pomona.
Who could have imagined things would turn out this way?